The Dog and the Meadowlark
by OrchidOwl
Summary: Louise has always liked Sirius, so when he asks her out, she is over the moon. What will happen next? Will it be a happily ever after or will the Marauders have a bumpy journey?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N This was originally a personal headcanon for Louise Small, but I enjoyed writing it so much that I decided that I'd turn it into a fanfiction :)**

**I hope you enjoy it and if you want to, please leave a review because then I can improve my writing :)**

The Fat Lady's portrait swung open and Louise stepped into the Gryffindor common room.

"Woah," muttered Sirius. James looked up from the Daily Prophet he was reading and gave Sirius an irritated look.

"Just ask her out, Padfoot!" he said as if it were the easiest thing in the world.

"Pah, you can talk, Prongs! Cough cough, Lily, cough cough," Sirius retorted. James stood up and moved over to Sirius. He sat on the arm of Sirius's chair.

"Well, Padfoot, my friend, I have asked Lily out and I will again! Anytime! It's easy!" James always sounded overly confident when talking about Lily.

"Go on then. If it's so easy," James said. "She's right over there." He pointed to the sofa by the fireplace where Lily was sitting next to Louise, who had just sat down.

"I will if you ask Louise first," James said defiantly.

"Okay, fine then," Sirius said, determined not to show James that he was nervous. He stood up slowly and walked confidently across the room. He stopped directly in front of Lily and Louise's sofa. They had been chatting away happily but stopped abruptly when Sirius approached.

"Hi, Sirius," Louise said, blushing slightly and tucking her blonde hair behind her ear.

"I'll leave you two alone, shall I?" Lily asked and stood up. She winked at Louise behind Sirius's back which made Louise turn scarlet.

"Did you want to ask me something, Sirius?" Louise asked nervously. She looked up at him with her big brown eyes and he melted inside.

"Yes," he said, determined not to mess this up. "Do you want to go to the Three Broomsticks with me next Hogsmeade weekend? Don't worry if you don't, I mean, I can understand that you wouldn't want to, but I…" Louise interrupted him quickly. She had never known Sirius to be nervous.

"Of course I do!" She smiled that smile that Sirius loved so much and he grinned like a little child.

"Great!" he said, beaming. "Well, I'll talk to you soon?"

"Yeah, talk to you soon," Louise said happily and bounced away, her golden hair swinging. Sirius was pretty sure he heard squealing from the girls' dormitory and he beamed.

"Nice one, Padfoot!" James made Sirius jump as he whacked him on the back.

"Yeah," Sirius turned to face his friend. "Now it's your turn." The colour drained from James's face. Sirius laughed. "Come on, Prongs, you have to keep up your end of the deal!"

"I will," he said. "I'll ask her out after tea." He started to walk towards his dormitory, but Sirius grabbed his shoulder.

"Oh, no you don't, Prongs," he said. "Ask Lily out now, or you I'll hex you." He drew his wand with his free hand and pointed it at James. Sirius had no intention of actually hexing James, but it was a threat that had worked before and he hoped it would work again now.

"Okay, okay, fine!" James said, defeatedly. "I'll do it." He looked around. "Where is she?"

"In her dormitory," said Sirius. "Just go up and knock on the door!"

"Oh, I'm not falling for that again, Padfoot," James said. "I know the staircase turns into a ramp." Sirius laughed.

"Okay, fine," Sirius said. "I was hoping you had forgotten about that. Just get one of the other girls to go and get her."

"No," James said. Sirius sighed and walked over to the bottom of the girls' dormitory stairs.

"What are you doing, Sirius?" James asked, following him over.

"LILY! JAMES WANTS TO TALK TO YOU!" Sirius bellowed up the stairs. "There you go, Prongs, problem solved." James glared at him, but didn't protest.

"WHAT DOES HE WANT?" Lily shouted back from her room. Sirius laughed.

"Don't you dare shout it, Sirius," James said to Sirius through gritted teeth.

"Okay then," Sirius said. "HE DOESN'T WANT ME TO SAY!" There was movement from upstairs and Lily appeared at the top of the stairs. She looked annoyed.

"Yes?" she said impatiently.

"Come down here, Lily," James said. "I don't want the whole common room to hear."

Lily huffed and came down the stairs. She stood in front of James and put her hands on her hips.

"Yes?" she said again.

"Well, err..." James stammered. Sirius whacked him in the back and James turned and glowered at him. Sirius just looked away and pretended he didn't know what had just happened.

"Well, um, I was wondering if you wanted to go to the Three Broomsticks with me next Hogsmeade weekend?" James said nervously. Lily raised her eyebrows.

"Oh," she said. "I thought you were going to admit to putting that frog in my bag the other day."

"You knew that was me?" James queried.

"Of course I knew it was you!" she said. "No one else would do something like that. Except Sirius maybe." She gestured to Sirius and he pretended to raise a hat.

"Well, Sirius dared me to," James said, trying to defend himself. Lily snorted.

"If Sirius dared you to jump off the Astronomy Tower, would you do it?" she asked. James sighed.

"Do you want to go out with me or not?" he asked impatiently.

"I'll get back to you on that," she said with a cheeky smile and flounced back up the stairs to her dormitory. James turned to Sirius.

"Well, it's not a no," he said hopefully.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N Sorry it took so long to update this! I hope you enjoy Chapter 2 :D**

"I can't believe he asked me to go to The Three Broomsticks with him!" Louise squealed. She was sitting with Lily at the Gryffindor table over a mouth-watering meal of spaghetti bolognese.

"Yes," said Lily impatiently. "I know, you told me about 20 times!" Ever since that afternoon in the common room, Sirius was all Louise could talk about and it was driving her up the wall.

"Oh, Lily," Louise said through a mouthful of spaghetti.

"What?" Lily said, dreading the thought of having to pick out what Louise would wear on her date, or a task similar to that.

"What did James want? You never told me," Louise said casually. Lily, who had been drinking at the time, spluttered and fought hard not to spit her pumpkin juice all over her meal. When she had recovered, she turned a deep shade of red, clashing violently with her hair.

"Oh, nothing," she said, trying to act casually. "He was just asking about the Charms homework."

"Pah!" Louise scoffed. "Utter rubbish! I'm not going to fall for that! Who do think I am, Peter Pettigrew!?"

"Hey!" said a voice from just down the table. Louise turned and saw Peter sitting there hunched over his meal.

"Oh, sorry, Peter! I didn't know you were there," Louise said, blushing. She turned back to Lily. "Whoops!" she whispered. "But seriously, I know that's not what happened."

"I'll tell you back in the common room," Lily said quietly, pretending nothing had happened.

"Fine, but if you don't tell me, I'll hex you," Louise said.

"You and Sirius really are perfect for each other," Lily remarked. Louise beamed.

"I know."

There was a loud bang from the Entrance Hall and Sirius and James ran into the Great Hall laughing, closely followed by Remus, who was limping slightly.

"I'm going to kill you two one day!" Remus yelled at Sirius and James who were now nearly at the Gryffindor table, clutching their sides.

"What happened?" Lily asked James, glad of a distraction from the awkward conversation with Louise. James and Sirius sat down opposite the girls.

"We – got – Peeves – to –HAHAHAHAHA – to drop – water – balloons – on – Remus! HAHAHA!" he said, out of breath from laughing so much.

"But he – he – did – them – all – at – once! HAHAHA!" said Sirius. Both of them burst into a new round of laughter.

"And – and – Remus – slipped – and – fell – over! HAHAHA!" James said through his laughter.

"Oh no!" Lily said, worried. "Is he alright?"

"Ask – HAHA – him – yourself! HAHA!" Sirius said and indicated behind him. Remus was approaching them, red in the face and fuming.

"Remus, are you alright?!" Lily asked, standing up and going round the end of the table to him. Remus threw a scowl at James and Sirius.

"If looks could kill, you two would be dead," Louise said to James and Sirius who were now trying to stifle their laughter.

"Yes," Remus said through gritted teeth. "I'm alright." Lily scowled at James and Sirius and opened her arms to Remus for a hug. He willingly accepted and scowled over her shoulder at his so-called friends. James stopped laughing immediately and looked hurt. This made Sirius laugh even harder.

"HAHAHA! Jealous, James?" he said with a wicked grin. James elbowed him in the stomach before he could say anything else. He turned to his plate and started eating without another word. Sirius stopped laughing, but was still smiling wickedly.

"Stop it, Sirius," Louise said seriously. Sirius looked at her and she couldn't help but smile. She felt him nudge her with his foot and she gave him a quizzical look. He pointed under the table. She looked at Lily, but she was still comforting Remus and James was staring at his food so she reached under the table. She felt Sirius thrust a ball of paper into her hand. She took it and opened it out in her lap.

Meet me in the Owlery after tea – Sirius

She looked up and he raised his eyebrows. She nodded and smiled and he smiled back. Lily and Remus sat down and Lily noticed the knowing smile between Sirius and Louise.

"Are you two alright?" she asked with raised eyebrows. Sirius and Louise quickly looked away from each other and Louise blushed. She pushed her blonde hair behind her ear and started eating quickly. Lily and Remus looked at each other and started laughing. James looked even angrier and started pushing the spaghetti round his plate. Lily reached out and took his hand across the table.

"Meet me in the common room in a minute, James," she said and got up. She waved at everyone and walked out of the Hall. James looked shocked. He quickly finished his meal and ran out of the Hall. Louise, Sirius and Remus all laughed.

"Aww, he can be so adorable some times," Louise said. Sirius raised her eyebrows at her. She laughed. "Don't worry, there's no competition." Sirius beamed.

"Oh, please!" Remus remarked. "Get a room!" Sirius and Louise laughed.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N Hello, all :D I hope you enjoy this chapter :) I love reviews, so if you want to leave one, it would be much appreciated :D**

James threw himself through the portrait hole into the Gryffindor common room. Lily was sitting on a settee on the other side of the common room. A fire was raging in the fireplace and the flickering light made her look even more striking than normal. Lily turned at the sound of his footsteps.

"Oh, James," she said calmly. "Just the person I wanted to talk to." James blushed fiercely and walked nervously over to sit on the settee next to Lily. When he sat down, to his surprise, Lily took both his hands in her own and held them tightly.

"I didn't want to talk about this in the Great Hall because I know Sirius would make some joke and ruin it," she said. James looked confused.

"Talk about what?" he asked. Lily looked away, as though collecting herself, and looked back.

"Yes," she said nervously. James was more confused than ever.

"What?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. Lily sighed.

"Yes, I'll go out with you," she replied. James's eyes widened and his jaw dropped. Lily put a finger under his chin and pushed his bottom jaw up so his mouth closed. "You'll catch flies if you stay like that," she joked.

"You're being serious?" James asked; he still couldn't believe what he was hearing. Lily laughed.

"Of course I am!" she said. "Why would I joke about something like this?"

"Well, you've turned me down for the last 6 years!" James retorted. "What made you change your mind?"

"I don't know really," Lily replied thoughtfully.

"Was it my rugged good looks and my boyish charm?" James asked, striking a dramatic pose. Lily burst into laughter.

"Yes, let's go with that," she replied. She wrapped her arms around his neck in a hug. James froze.

"What's wrong?" Lily asked, pulling away. James blushed.

"Ermm, it's just, err, I've thought about this moment for so long, and it's finally happening," he said nervously. Lily smiled.

"Aww, aren't you cheesy, James," she said and hugged him again. This time James responded and wrapped his arms around her waist. It was the happiest moment of his life; he never wanted it to end. Lily pulled away.

"I'll see you later then?" Lily asked, standing up. James looked up at her.  
"Yeah," he said. "See you later." She planted a kiss on the top of his head, grabbed her bag and headed for the portrait hole.

"Bye!" she called with a little wave as the portrait of the Fat Lady swung back into place. James turned at looked at the fire, grinning from ear to ear.

Sirius ate his last mouthful of food and put his cutlery down.

"Right, I'm off," he said. "See you later."

"Bye!" Louise called after him eagerly. He turned and winked at her over his shoulder. She turned a bright shade of pink and Remus gave her a quizzical look.

"Anything you want to tell me, Louise?" he asked cheekily. She looked up at him and tried desperately to look casual.

"Err, no, I don't think so," she said nonchalantly. She looked down at her food and continued eating in silence. She finished her food as quickly as she could without looking like she was rushing.

"Oh, Louise, what did you write about for the History of Magic homework?" Remus asked casually.

Oh, great, Louise thought. She wanted to get to the Owlery as quickly as possible to meet Sirius.

"Err, something about Ragnuk the First being the most influential goblin king of the early ages," Louise said quickly. "Or something like that." She finished eating and practically threw down her cutlery. She grabbed her bag from under the table and started to hurry away.

"Sorry, Remus," she called back down the Hall. "I'll talk to you later."

"Err, okay," he called back. It had been one of the weirdest evenings in Remus's life.

Louise ran to over the Owlery as quickly as her legs would carry her. She paused at the bottom of the steps up to the Owlery itself to catch her breath. She didn't want to look like an idiot in front of Sirius. When she was ready, she made her way up the steps. She saw Sirius sitting on the windowsill looking out the window.

"Be careful there," she warned him with a cheeky grin. He whipped his head round.

"I'm being careful," he replied. He hopped down off the windowsill and walked over to her. "I couldn't wait for the next Hogsmeade weekend." Louise giggled and pushed her hair behind her ear. "So, what do you want to do?" he asked, taking her hand. Louise didn't know what to say.

"Err, I don't know," she said nervously. "You pick." Sirius laughed.

"Well, okay then," he said. "Come with me." He led her down the Owlery steps and through the corridors until he got to the Gryffindor common room.

"Sequitur princeps," Sirius said to the Fat Lady. She nodded and the portrait swung open.

"Err, Sirius, where are we going?" Louise asked. He led her over and sat her down on an armchair in near the boys' dormitories.

"Just wait here," he said and ran off up to his dormitory. Louise sat patiently until Sirius came running back down.


End file.
